WASHINGTON YOUTH TOUR

ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES

THE POWER TO BE

2019–2020 RESOURCE BOOK

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WASHINGTON YOUTH TOUR

ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE

CREATIVE WRITINGAND SCHOLARSHIPCOMPETITION

More than 6,000 high school juniors from across Tennessee have participated in the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour since it start-ed in the 1960s.

Before you lies a unique opportunity. Winners of the Electric Cooperative Writing Contest not only earn spots on a once-in-a-lifetime tour of our nation’s capital, but they also qualify for additional trips and thousands of dollars in scholarships and have a chance to network with other young leaders from across the nation.

This booklet will tell you more about the trip, let you hear from previous delegates and outline the requirements and resources to help you write the best short story. It will also tell you a little bit more about electric coop-eratives and the reasons they have provided this opportunity to students for more than 50 years.

Exciting stops on the Washington Youth Tour include Arlington National Cemerery, above, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, right, and the U.S. Capitol, opposite page. Seeing the sites they’ve studied in school is a highlight of the delegates’ D.C. experience.

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WHAT YOU GET

Your prize for showing the benefits of cooper-ative power: an unforgettable trip to Wash-ington, D.C., June 19-25, 2020, with nearly 2,000 other students your age from across the country.

Each day of the Washington Youth Tour brings more impressive sights, opportunities for photos and lots of memories. Among activi-ties filling the agenda are tours of Washing-ton, D.C., and all its landmarks, memorials and museums. Highlights include the Smithsonian Institution, White House, U.S. Capitol, Mount Vernon and Monticello.

Food, travel and lodging expenses are paid by Tennessee’s electric cooperatives. But the benefits of the Youth Tour go far beyond an expense-paid trip.

During the tour, delegates have the opportu-nity to compete for Tennessee’s spot on the Youth Leadership Council to represent the

state at the 2021 National Rural Electric Co-operative Association annual meeting in San Diego, California.

And don’t forget about the chance to help pay for your college education with schol-arships of $3,000, $2,000 or $1,000 awarded by the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Asso-ciation if your story is judged one of the top three in the state.

You may also choose to participate in our Co-operative Youth Ambassador program. Dele-gates who stay active and engaged with their co-op in the 12 months following Youth Tour qualify for a drawing for a $10,000 scholarship to the school of their choice.

Electric cooperatives are different from other utilities. Your locally owned electric co-op gives a lot back to the community. In fact, that’s a major part of its business plan. Electric cooperatives invest thousands of dollars to

TRAVEL RECOGNITION SCHOLARSHIPS CONNECTIONS4

send high school students to Washington be-cause it’s important to the long-term prosper-ity of their communities for their leaders of tomorrow to learn about the political process. Youth Tour participants return to their home-towns stronger leaders with confidence that they can make a difference.

The Washington Youth Tour is just the beginning. Tour delegates have the opportunity to receive additional trips and a share of more than $400,000 in scholarships. Plus, the experienc-es and contacts you make will last a lifetime.

SO MUCH MORETHAN A TRIP

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In addition to scholarships provided by the electric co-ops, Union University in Jackson, Tenn., has recognized the lead-ership potential of youth tour delegates. The university has agreed to provide up to 24 $4,000/year scholarships for four years and one $10,000/year scholarship for four years.

HEAR FROM THE WINNERS

“Never in my life did I imagine that writing this short story would impact my life this much. I saw so many things, many of them once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Youth Tour has changed my life for the better, all because of a 900-word short story.”

Olivia Carpenter, Blackman High School Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation

“I didn’t think 900 words could change my life THAT much, but it did. I got to see my nation’s capital, make friends, eat some great mac and cheese and learn so much more than what my textbooks at school have to offer.”

Anna Herrell, Cherokee High School Holston Electric Cooperative

“I knew I was going to have fun on this trip. I didn’t know it would be with so many new friends. I never thought that making friends would ever be so easy or that I would get along with new people this well.”

Makenzie Dale, Tellico Plains High SchoolFort Loudiun Electric Cooperative

“Thanks to this trip, I will approach senior year and life differently. This trip has shown me how many opportunities there are in life; you just have to be willing to look for them.”

Brooke Jackson, Fayette Ware High School Chickasaw Electric Cooperative

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Each day of the Washington Youth Tour brings more impressive sights, opportu-nities for photos and lots of memories. Among activities filling the agenda are tours of Washington, D.C., and all its land-marks and memorials.

2019 ROBERT MCCARTY MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Jacob Coble,Perry County High School, Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative, $3,000 Scholarship

Alyssa Hampton, Riverside Christian Academy,Fayetteville Public Utilities, $2,000 Scholarship

Melanie Garcia, Dyer County High School ,Appalachian Electric Co-operative, $1,000 Scholarship

JOIN A NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP

Politicians, authors, ath-letes and business leaders, includingApple CEO Tim Cook, areproud YouthTour alumni.

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2019 CO-OP YOUTH AMBASSADOR SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

Keslin Moore, Munford High School ,Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative, $10,000 Scholarship

Delegates who stay engaged and active with their local co-op in the year following the Youth Tour have a chance to win a $10,000 scholarship to the college or trade school of their choice.

RULES AND RESOURCES

CO-OP CONTACT PERSON

EMAIL ADDRESS

DUE DATE

There are a few rules you need to follow:

1. Only juniors in high school are eligible to participate.

2. Every short story must be titled “Rural Renaissance.”

3. Submissions must not exceed 900 words, including articles (“a,” “an” and “the”). The exact word count must be included on your cover page. Entries must be typewritten and double-spaced.

Remember, you’re writing a short story, which gives you more creative freedom than the rigid guidelines of an essay. Your story should be an entertaining, informative description of electric cooperatives.

Visit youthtour.tnelectric.org to learn more about electric co-ops. Resources there will provide you with lots of information and ma-terial to write your story.

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The energy provided by electric co-ops has far-reaching impacts on Tennessee. Write a short story explaining how electric co-ops give their consumers the “power to be” con-nected, engaged, productive, healthy, educated, etc. How does affordable and reliable energy from your co-op impact your life?

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JUDGINGCRITERIA

Be creative in your writing, utilizing the information in this booklet and your own distinctive voice. Your writ-ing will be judged on three factors:

LEARN MORE ONLINE AT YOUTHTOUR.TNELECTRIC.ORGThere are several resources on our website at youthtour.tnelectric.org to help you write your story.

CHECKLIST FOR SUCCESS:The tips below can help you get one step closer to D.C. Use these suggestions to make your story stand out.

Characters, time and placeSpend some time to develop the characters, location and time frame of your story.

Get specificInclude at least three specific examples of the many ways that co-ops connect their commu-nities. The expansion of broadband, availabil-ity of reliable energy, efforts to recruit new businesses and jobs and young leadership development for young people are just a few examples.

Include one (or more) co-op principlesThe seven principles of electric co-ops are list-ed on pages 14 and 15. Include these in your story to demonstrate your understanding of the many things that make electric co-ops unique.

To gain full credit in this category, you’ll have to effectively weave the information relating to the theme throughout the short story. Judges will see indications of additional research, a grasp of what information is vital to making your story believable and credible and creative ways of present-ing that information.

Use a different, entertaining, effective way of presenting information that will educate a reader and get your points across.

If you need an explanation here, check your English textbook.

Appropriate treatment of theme and knowledge of subject

Originality and Creativity

Grammar and Composition

50%

35%

15%

LAST YEAR’S WINNING STORY

Harry was, once again, being fed a paralyzing line of questions by Arthur Weasley, the muggle-ob-sessed father of the family, during a visit to the Weasleys’ home with Ginny and their children, James, Albus Severus, and Lily. And while he was, in fact, after some consideration, able to explain rubber ducks to Mr. Weasley, this new topic was more unsettlingly random than any other topic Hany had encountered before. This was, in fact, his second greatest challenge since the Dark Lord himself. Mr. Weasley simply had to know:

“Harry, what are these electrical cooperatives?” He asked, hopefully. His childlike enthusiasm was never more prominent than in his inquiries into the nature of muggle technologies. He continued, saying, “I read about them once, in a muggle pam-phlet I collected on a trip to America.”

Arthur was always collecting as much muggle information as possible, And Harry, having just fin-ished explaining the general concept of electricity to Mr. Weasley, was exhausted by the prospect of having to find out what electric cooperatives were. But Harry could hardly refuse him, so he told Arthur he would “Look into it for you,” and left for the day. He could hardly wait to get out of Mr. Weasley’s sight for the night.

The next morning, before anyone could wake up to discover him, Harry slipped out of bed, taking care to avoid waking Ginny, and reluctantly took to the internet, remembering as much of his Mug-

gle Studies lesson on the World Wide Web, as they called it, as he could to search for “Electric Cooper-atives’’. The result he chose took him to a website full of information about Tennessee cooperatives. Good enough, right? Tennessee is a state in Amer-ica, so this has to be what he wants to know, he thought. He began reading.

Harry was surprised at how intrigued he was. Muggle technologies hardly interested Harry, but he found himself reading page after page of this information that was completely useless to him. Behind a veil of curious excitement and nervous shame, he looked through as much information as he could. Harry learned more that day about muggles than he had any day since the Dursleys had left. He knew, for instance, that cooperatives, or “Co-ops” for short, power over 1.1 million places in Tennessee. They were responsible for the power in 1 in 3 Tennessee homes, giving power to 2.5 million Tennessee muggles 99.96 percent of the time. He kept reading and found out that they were not-for-profit, a muggle way of saying that they weren’t greedy, and that they were owned and regulated by their members. Their members, of course, were their customers and the people that owned the cooperatives themselves. Harry knew that to Arthur this would all be very confus-ing. He braced himself for the hours he knew were ahead of him and kept reading.

Harry thought that these electric cooperatives would be something Hermione would like, re-

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calling her role in S.P.E.W and her obsession with house elves during their fourth year at Hogwarts. This was because the businesses gave 2,600 people jobs in rural areas, gave to philanthropic causes, and paid 63 million dollars, American muggle money, in taxes that went towards roads, schools, and parks. Cooperatives also saved Tennesseans millions of dollars on prescriptions and medical bills with what was called the Co-op Connections Card. Harry had thought he would be explaining something simple to Arthur, but now Harry could see his future conversation with Mr. Weasley growing longer and more complex by the minute. Nevertheless, Harry forged ahead and kept reading.

Electric cooperatives arefull of some really big numbers. Harry thought as he discovered that, in addition to all of the other gigantic numbers he had to remember to tell Mr. Weasley about, 83,000 miles of power lines, the “wires in the air” that he had explained to Arthur yesterday, were maintained by the co-ops. These and the other equipment used by the co-ops cost in total 2.8 billion American dollars, which was about 2 billion pounds. Harry hoped the conversion would help Arthur understand; muggle money was also beloved to Arthur, and Harry knew he understood it at least marginally. Harry remembered the other money-related facts he learned and made a mental note to tell Arthur all of the dollar ain-ounts, such as the 94 million dollars in wages and benefits earned by co-op employees and the

4 million dollars in economic development loans co-ops had secured in 2013, in pounds.

Satisfied with everything he had learned, Harry Potter closed the webpage he had opened and prepared himself for the conversation with Arthur Weasley that was imminently looming over him. Armed with a few notes and the knowledge he had gathered, Harry stepped into the living room of the Weasleys’ home to find Arthur awake, reading The Daily Prophet. Harry looked at him as he put the paper down and cracked a smile Harry knew all too well. It was the smile of Arthur’s muggle curiosity, and for once, Harry was happy to oblige.

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ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES:GOING BEYOND THE WIRES

Silas Freeze, a stu-dent at Obion County Central High School who was sponsored by Gibson Electric Mem-bership Corporation, was the state winner of the 2018 Washington Youth Tour Writing Contest, earning him a $3,000 scholarship.

This year’s theme is “Inspiring a Rural Reniassance. Write your story about the many ways co-ops have helped rural towns grow into thriving com-munities.

TENNESSEE’S ELECTRIC CO-OPS

Tennessee’s electric cooperatives provide power to more than 1.1 million homes, farms and businesses across rural and suburban Tennessee. Unlike other businesses, electric cooperatives are owned by the consumers they serve and operate as not-for-profit busi-nesses. This may not sound important, but it means that consumers are the priority. Rates are kept low because there are no stockhold-ers to pay, and the co-op is responsive to members because they vote on co-op leader-ship.

In the 1930s, there was no power in rural Tennessee. Homeowners and farmers came together to create co-ops that would bring power to their homes.

Today, co-ops are modern businesses that use technology to efficiently operate a large, advanced grid. Despite these changes, the primary goal of co-ops have not changed: provide safe, reliable and affordable energy to our neighbors, the very people who own the co-op.

MEMBER-OWNED AND -REGULATEDElectric co-ops are owned by the people they serve, not by government. Members elect board members to represent their interests and set policy and procedures for the co-op.

NOT-FOR-PROFITCo-ops exist to serve their communities instead of shareholders. They distrib-ute and sell energy at cost and invest any excess revenue back into the electric system.

COMMITTED TO IMPROVING COMMUNITIESKeeping the lights on. Recruiting new industry. Educating the leaders of tomor-row. Electric co-ops take seriously their responsibility to improve lives in their communities.

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Because of their local ties, co-ops are commit-ted to improving lives in their communities. Going beyond simply keeping the lights on, co-ops recruit businesses and investment, help members operate their homes and busi-nesses more efficiently and prepare students to be tomorrow’s leaders.

ELECTRIC CO-OPSSERVE

CO-OP HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES

Electricity was available in many of America’s larger cit-ies, but electrification of rural areas was deemed unfeasible.

For-profit power companies consid-ered it unprofitable to build lines in sparsely populated rural areas. Without electricity, the econ-omies of rural areas were tied exclusively to agriculture.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, which created a federal agency to provide river navigation, flood control, electric generation and eco-nomic development in the Tennessee Valley.

MID-1880S EARLY 1930S MAY 18, 1933

CO-OP HISTORY IN TENNESSEE

THE SEVENCOOPERATIVEPRINCIPLES

VOLUNTARY AND OPEN MEMBERSHIP

DEMOCRATIC MEMBER CONTROL

MEMBERS’ ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION

Co-ops are voluntary organizations open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership.

Co-ops are demo-cratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions.

Members contribute equitably to the capital of their co-op. Mem-bers allocate surpluses to further develop the cooperative or support other activities ap-proved by members.

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President Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Ad-ministration, which made federal funds available to provide rural electric service. The leaders of farm organizations pro-posed the formation of nonprofit electric cooperatives.

Tennesseans formed 23 electric coopera-tives to bring elec-tricity to rural areas.

Postwar enthusiasm and adaptations of military technolo-gy, materials and equipment propelled rapid growth of rural electrification. By the 1950s, the Tennessee Valley Authority had become the nation’s largest energy supplier.

Tennessee’s 23 electric cooperatives provide energy for 2.5 million Tennesse-ans across 71 percent of Tennessee’s land-mass. Co-ops rely on the latest technology to efficiently and reliably serve one in three Tennessee homes.

MAY 11, 1935 1935–1948 1949 TODAY

AUTONOMY AND INDEPENDENCE

EDUCATION, TRAINING AND INFORMATION

COOPERATION AMONG COOPERATIVES

CONCERN FOR COMMUNITY

Co-ops are autono-mous organizations controlled by their members.

Co-ops provide ed-ucation and training for their members, representatives and employees on the nature and benefits of cooperation.

Co-ops serve their members most ef-fectively by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.

Cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.

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WASHINGTON YOUTH TOUR

PRESENTED BY YOUR LOCAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE AND

2964 Sidco Drive, Nashville, TN 37204

615.367.9284 | tnelectric.org